Double Dutch Jump Rope In Television Programming

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases four examples of television programming that focus on the playground activity or the competitive sport of Double Dutch jump rope. These examples are a McDonalds commercial, a xbox 360 commercial, a segment of a Sesame Street television program, and an excerpt of the Disney channel movie Jump In!.

Links to information and articles about Double Dutch Jump Rope are foound in the Related Links section below.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

WARNING:
Some Double Dutch videos on Youtube contain images and language that are not suitable for children.

FEATURED VIDEOS
These examples are presented in chronological order with the oldest examples posted first. The year or decade that I believe the example was produced is given in brackets after the video title.

Video #1: VINTAGE 80'S MCDONALD'S DOUBLE DUTCH COMMERCIAL [1980]



tracy80sgirl, Uploaded on Jul 29, 2009

Sadly, I can only skip a single rope. But what a feelgood McDonald's commercial!
-snip-
From a comment to this video by Dr. Kyra Gaunt, author of the award winning book The Games Black Girls Play, the Double Dutch jumpers in this video were members of the world champion Fantastic Four Double Dutch team.

According to the article http://www.oppositionalconversations.org/Between-Street-Culture-and-Global-Sport-Double-Dutch-s-Turning-Points-1, unfortunately as a result of these girls being a part of that commercial, they could no longer compete in Double Dutch competitions, nor could they receive scholarships as amateur athletes.

That same article includes a critique of Dr. Gaunt's involvement in a documentary about Double Dutch.
**
I’m not sure whether this McDonald’s jingle was used as a playground rhyme before this commercial or not, but the commercial probably resulted in the popularization of that jingle as a playground rhyme. Click http://cocojams.com/content/handclap-jump-rope-and-elastics-rhymes for examples of this jingle and for other examples of rhymes that have been chanted while playing Double Dutch.

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Video #2: Sesame Street - Jump Rope Contest [late 1980s]



Jonnytbirdzback, Uploaded on Jan 21, 2009

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Video #3 Jump Rope [2006]



napalmdest, Uploaded on Apr 23, 2006

Xbox 360 commercial
-snip-
Xbox 360 is a brand name for a video game console.

This "Jump In" commercial by McCann-Erickson won the 2006 Best of Show Addy award [American Advertising Federation (AAF)]
From http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/13/xbox-360-jump-rope-ad-wins-addy/ "This extreme double Dutch jump rope jam metaphorically captures the excitement and social aspect of the new generation XBOX 360. It was shot completely in-camera in one take. This is a beautifully crafted piece of work, and the soundtrack is inspired."

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Video #4 'Jump In' Final Dance [2007]



Angiebcn, Uploaded on Jul 15, 2007
just this... final dance of the film 'Jump In', enjoy ;)
This vid is property of Disney Channel, not mine.
***NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED***

First song: It's my turn by Keke PAlmer
Second song: Push it to the limit by Corbin Bleu
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_In! for information about this movie.

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RELATED LINKS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Dutch_(jump_rope) This page provides a general description & history of the playground activity of Double Dutch and the competitive sport of Double Dutch.
**
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/text-messaging-styles-black-slang-in.html Text Messaging Styles & Black Slang In A Double Dutch Video Comment Thread
**
http://www.oppositionalconversations.org/Between-Street-Culture-and-Global-Sport-Double-Dutch-s-Turning-Points-1

This article provides information about the development of Double Dutch from a playground activity to its institutionalization as a sport and its use in commercials & other media. One of the opinions presented in this article is that African American girls were the population who were at the forefront of the Double Dutch playground activity have been largely displaced & co-opted by the institutionalized sport of Double Dutch and by most of the media documentaries & programming which have a Double Dutch theme.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the performers who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the producers, trainers, and others responsible for these videos, and thanks to the uploaders of these videos.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Read More

The Jazz Dance Truckin (Information & Video Examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about and film clips of the Jazz dance step known as "truckin".

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT "TRUCKIN" (DANCE)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Apple_(dance)#Moves
"Truckin: Truckin is a shuffle step variation popularized after the vaudeville era. The right hand is held up (as in a right turn signal) with the index finger extended and wagging. In Harlem Truckin the shoulder is set back. Feet are parallel at all times. With both feet together and facing slight left the right foot scoopes down and brushes the floor, the left foot is then gathered at the right ankle and the right heel twists (this should cause forward movement as the foot scoopes past the other foot). The action is repeated creating a "hearts in the snow" effect from the overlapping steps. At the same time the left hand is placed over the stomach (like a waiter holding a towel) and never really moves. The stomach twistes with the feet therefore, the "stomach rubs the hand". If truckin is being done around a circle the outside hand is always up."
-snip-
From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3truck.htm
“Truckin is considered a Harlem dance originating around 1927...It signifies the Strutting Walk done when one is happy or joyful...It’s mainly used in Lindy Hop today after separating from your partner to return later back together again. Truckin can be done as a couple or as a solo...

Truckin is the shoulders which fall and rise as the dancers move toward each other while the fore finger points up and wiggles back and forth like a windshield wiper.”
-snip-
From http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/truckin_or_truck_on_down_1935/
"The Big Apple: Truckin
Entry from February 19, 2006
“Truckin‘“ or “Truck on Down” (1935)
The dance "Truckin" or "Truck on Down" was popularized in Harlem in 1935. Various Harlem spots and entertainers took credit for popularizing it."...
-snip-
http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/truckin.html
"According to The Golden Road,
"'Truckin'' was a popular dance step, and the word is immortalized in a number of '20s and '30s songs, including the blues "Keep on Truckin'" and Blind Boy Fuller's "Truckin' My Blues Away.""--Winter 1984."...

[From that same site but credited to the Oxford English Dictionary]
"trucking 2. The action of dancing the truck. slang. 1944 C. CALLOWAY Hepster's Dictionary in Of Minnie the Moocher (1976)
260 Trucking, a dance introduced at the Cotton Club in 1933."

The OED also recognizes the phrase "Keep on trucking":
"to persevere: a phrase of encouragement. 1972. Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 28 Oct. 12 One poster...shows the famous R. Crumb cartoon characters and bears the caption: 'Let's Keep on Truckin'."

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music describes "Truckin'" as a dance step which was incorporated into the "lively and strenuous circle dance", the Big Apple. It describes the "truckin'" step, "with its shuffle step and waving index finger."....
-snip-
http://www.skippyblair.com/dance_dictionary.htm
"...TRUCKIN'' was easy to do in the 1940s because the dancers were already familiar with the movement. It was the same movement as the "subtle bounce" in the Jitterbug & Balboa. Truckin' was part of the "Big Apple" in the 1940's..."
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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers Radio City Revels 1938



Olivier Cotton, Uploaded on Jun 3, 2010
-snip-
An example of "Truckin" occurs in this film clip at .04-.05
(a woman in the back dances across scene)

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Example #2: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple (1939)



Tanoa Stewart, Uploaded on Jan 25, 2007

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple followed by some crazy Lindy Hoppin'. From the movie Keep Punching, 1939 - Brought to you by the San Francisco Jitterbugs, www.jitterbugs.info
-snip-
I believe that one example of "Truckin" is found at .48-59.

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Example #3: A Day at the Races [The swing]



mind stripper, Uploaded on Sep 1, 2007
The whole beautiful, inspiring dancing scene of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.
-snip-
Black dancers perform "Truckin" -.43-.50

Two Marx brothers perform "Truckin" - 6:56-6:59

Three Marx brothers perform "Truckin" - 7:27
-snip-
Editorial comment about this film clip:
Notwithstanding the skill & creativity of the Black dancers & singers who performed in this film clip, I believe that this scene is full of stereotypical depictions of Black people, including Black people’s interaction with the White lead character who plays the pipes & is referred to as (the angel) “Gabriel”. I also believe that the scene in at the end of this clip is racist. In that scene (7:08-7:36), the Marx brothers apply black axle grease to their skin so that they can merge in the crowd with the Black dancers, thus avoiding being captured by those persons chasing them. This is an example of "blackface".

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Example #4:Truckin - Jumbo70



Mrgreymattr, Uploaded on Oct 12, 2010

Inspired by a popular dance step in the 20's & 30's, Truckin was written and recorded by late 60's rock band Jumbo. Watch legends doing some of the coolest moves on the planet. Visit www.jumbo.com
-snip-
I’m not sure if any of these clips are of the “truckin” dance
step.]

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Example #5: Alphabetical Jazz Steps 2 (Bigger & Longer)


LindyandBlues, Uploaded on Feb 16, 2012
Vocabulary of 84 American vernacular jazz solo movements

A hyyperlinked list of the dances that are ddemonstrated in this video is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbteWH-3QlY, including Truckin [around 9:40]

A shorter version of this video is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEWxdPTCubI

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Example #6: Truckin' Routine at the Swing Brother Swing Festival, Bologna Italy 2011



Sharon Davis, Uploaded on May 11, 2011

Instructors at the 2011 Swing Brother Swing Festival in Italy perform the Truckin' routine, choreographed by Sharon Davis.

Song: Truckin' by Willie Bryant






BONUS VIDEO
Here's a Soul Train television show clip of Eddie Kendricks performing his 1973 R&B song "Keep On Truckin". I don't know if the dances that are being performed are an updated version of "truckin". As a reminder, the African American colloquial saying "Keep on truckin'" is said to encourage people to keep on going, inspite of difficulties. Another way of saying this is "Keep on keepin on".

EDDIE KENDRICKS - KEEP ON TRUCKING.70S SOUL DANCERS



Raresoulfilms, Uploaded on Jun 6, 2011

WHAT A GROOVE

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RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/ina-ray-hutton-and-her-melodears-doin.html
Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - "Truckin" & "Doin' The Suzy Q"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers and the other dancers in these featured dancers for their dance legacy. My thanks also to the musicians & vocalists who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the producers of these film clips, the the uploaders of these videos and the authors of the information that is quoted in this post.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Read More

Muhammad Muwakil - "4.00 am in Belmont" (Jamaican Spoken Word)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases the Jamaican spoken word composition "4.00 am in Belmont" by Muhammad Muwakil.

A video of Muhammad Muwakil sharing that composition and a transcription of that composition is found in this post. Excerpts from an online article on Muhammad Muwakil & selected comments from that video's YouTube comment thread are also included in this post.

The content of this post is provided for historical, folkloric, motivational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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FEATURED VIDEO
4.00 am in Belmont - Muhammad Muwakil



Christopherlaird, Uploaded on Oct 22, 2007

Young Trinidadian poet performs on Gayelle
-snip-
Here are 3 comments from this video's viewer comment thread
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3QZLGX1P8w

jazzbwoym 2009
"Wow...a powerful truth...I grew up in Belmont Port of Spain so I familiar wit the scenes u describe bruh. Keep up the good work.

**
wirechair, 2009
"yeh fo' real this man does jus set a certain atmosphere when he reciting."
**
navidhendrix, 2011
"Hands down one of the BEST descriptions I have ever heard about the crime and poverty situation in Trinidad and Tobago.

This stroke of brilliance should actually be studied in schools.

I heard him perform this piece a few times and the silence of the crowd is palpable as they absorb and understand the meaning of these words.

Beautiful, just beautiful."

****
TRANSCRIPTION: 4.00 am IN BELMONT
(Muhammad Muwakil)
It’s 4:00 am.
Amen. I still alive.
Belmont didn’t take my life last night.
I jump up twice out my sleep.
I thought a man was in my house.
‘Cause where I from we don’t sleep easy.
In the house is just granny and me
and she always ‘fraid someone gonna ‘tief she things
but it really she life she fraid for.
“Go back in your bed, son. The sun she start risin.”
Gosh, granny, I writtin.”
“But son, it’s half past 1.
“No granny, it’s 4 am.
Can’t you smell de blood?
Can’t you hear that one persistent dog that has been
barkin since yesterday?
He’s just happy to be alive this morning.”
Instead of barkin I prayin ‘cause I understand exactly
what that dog feelin.
Demons prowlin, cocaine itchin under their skin
So they sinnin to sniff other people’s sweat and tears away.
Cocaine no have no friend,
Especially in Belmont when it’s 4 am.
And it’s almost like I can hear the scrap of a spoon
at the bottom of an empty content milk as mothers
in the valley road try to make miracles before de babies wake up.
It’s de second day of school and de lunch kit new
but it have nothing to put in it.
And the school book fresh off the de shelf
but de ‘fraid to even look in it.
De afraid to have de heart broken by assumptions de made before.
Too many over educated cocaine dealers under street lamps.
Our futures are not secure.
And tomorrow is not promised to beast or men
especially in Belmont when it’s 4 am.
Roosters screamin their lungs out tryin to call de sun up
But aqui he is not listenin.
And it’s gonna take more than the blarin of cocks to wake my people up.
And I have 19 locks on my house, not countin de ones on de windows
Because in those few hours before sun rise, gunshots usher souls away from
the realm of men.
A way to understand me when I say it’s 4 am.
So buy a dream from a crackhead and stitch it to de fabric of your being to begin to understand de meaning of mayhem.
Pray for your life, forever and ever, amen
in Belmont when it’s 4 am.
-snip-

*Transcription by Azizi Powell from the video.
Note: I'm not Jamaican and I don't speak Jamaican Patois. As sucn, my transcription is incomplete and some words may be wrong.
Italics mean that I'm not sure of the transcription.

I'm not sure if I correctly placed the quotation marks around the comments that the speaker had with his granny.

I think that the phrase that I heard as "content of milk" means containers of milk.

Even though I'm not the best person to transcribe this composition, I think that its words are so powerful, so insightful, and so significant that it should be documented in text form online. My hope is that someone from Jamaica, or otherwise knowledgeable about Jamaican patoise will correct this attempt at transcription.

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EXCERPT OF A CARIBBEAN BEAT ARTICLE ABOUT MUHAMMAD MUWAKIL
From http://caribbean-beat.com/issue-117/muhammad-muwakil-world-change Caribbean Beat, Nazma Muller, September, October 2012
"
“Listening to Muhammad Muwakil can be painful. And it’s not because of his singing. Even when he does spoken-word poetry you want to cover your ears and run away. Those who hear his musings on “4 am in Belmont” reel at images of over-educated cocaine dealers under streetlamps, and the sound of gunshots that “usher souls away from the realm of men.” Unrelenting, Muwakil unleashes lines like: “buy a dream from a crackhead and stitch it to the fabric of your being to begin to understand the meaning of mayhem.”...

Muhammad Abdul Quddus Muwakil is the quintessential Trini: a mélange of cultures, histories, and genes. Although he often wears the colours and emblems of Rastafari, he is a practising Muslim, fluent in Arabic. His father named him after the Prophet, and Abdul Quddus translates as “slave of the Most High.”...

“Islam has influenced the core of my being, the way I live,” Muwakil says. “It has taught me to be respectful to others, to be truthful, and to give to the less fortunate.” This doesn’t prevent him from having questions, though. He challenges the Muslim belief that music is haram (forbidden). After all, he plays the guitar, flute, harmonica, and African djembe drums, and music reaches the audience that he most wants to reach: the youth.

He’s often invited to run workshops and give talks in secondary schools. He even gave an inspiring and earnest talk to University of the West Indies students about why he switched from chemical engineering to theatre and literature.

An historian for his twenty-first-century generation — he turns twenty-nine this year — Muwakil organised and performed at a fundraiser for the Memory Project, which will document the contribution of Black Muslims in Trinidad and Tobago, including their role in the 1990 coup attempt. As a UWI undergraduate, not content with battling the university authorities to recognise his performances in four major theatre productions as credits towards his degree (he won a national acting award for his role in Bitter Cassava in 2008), Muwakil started UWI Speak, an open-mic series that brought the spark of live student performances back to the campus.

Over the last five years, he has performed mainly spoken-word poetry, sharing the stage at one benefit concert with the most famous dub poet ever, Jamaica’s Mutabaruka...

With his Freetown brothers, Muwakil is part of a new wave of conscious young people from Trinidad and Tobago who want to stay in the Caribbean and rediscover their lost history — while making a little history of their own."

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Muhammad Muwakil for the power, beauty, and creativity of this composition and of his other spoken word compositions.

Thanks also to the commenters and the author of the article that are quoted in this post. My thanks also to the uploader of this video.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Read More

Jamaican Songs About The River Jordan (Part II)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post is Part II of a two part series that presents some information about, and a very small sample of Jamaican songs about the river Jordan. These posts also include transcriptions of those song lyrics when those lyrics aren't found online, or links to those song lyrics if those lyrics are already found online.

Part II features four sound files of Jamaican songs about the river Jordan. The featured songs, posted in no particular order are Clancy Eccles with Hersang -"River Jordan", Burning Spear- "Jordan River", The Itals - Roll River Jordan", and Linval Thompson - "Roll river Jordan".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/jamaican-songs-about-river-jordan-part-i.html for the first post in this series.

Part I of this series features Laurel Aitken - "Roll Jordan Roll", Wingless Angels -"Roll River Jordan", and a Zion Sacred Heart Sabbath church (Jamaica) congregational rendition of "Roll Jordan Roll".

That post also provides some information about the religious and folkloric significance of the Jordan river, as well as some information about the much older African American Spiritual "Roll River Roll".

DISCLAIMER:
I am not Jamaican. Nor am I an expert of or highly knowledgeable about Jamaican music.

The primary purpose of this Pancocojams blog-and my Cocojams and Jambalayah websites-is to raise awareness of various examples of African American, African, and other African Diaspora music & dance forms. Particularly on Pancocojams, I feature an eclectic mix of music & dance forms from the USA and from other parts of the world.

In addition to raising awareness of those specific music/dance examples and their music genres, if known, my goal for Pancocojams & those websites is to encourage persons who are experts and are very knowledgeable about those examples & genres to add online information (including correct lyrics), sound files and/or videos.

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The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, folkloric, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
PART II - JAMAICAN SONGS ABOUT THE RIVER JORDAN

FEATURED SOUND FILES

Example #1: Clancy Eccles with Hersang/River Jordan



Soberphobe, Uploaded on Feb 7, 2007
-snip-
I believe that this song is an example of Jamaican Ska music.

[Update 2/25/2013 - I've received a comment that this song isn't Ska music.

I remain interested in comments from those who can identify this music genre and the music genres of the other songs that are featured on this Jamaican River Jordan posts and/or the songs that are featured on Part I of this series.]
-snip-
Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page about Ska music http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ska
"Ska (pron.: /ˈskɑː/, Jamaican [skjæ]) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae.[1] Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. It is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the upbeat. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods. Later it became popular with many skinheads.[2][3][4]"
-snip-
According to an allmusic.com review of The Itals' "Roll River Jordan" record that was quoted in the first post of this series, this record which was released in 1961 was the first of many Jamaican songs that focused on the river Jordan.
-snip-
LYRICS: RIVER JORDAN
(Clancy Eccles)

Lead Singer-Roll river Jordan, roll
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead -Roll river Jordan, roll
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead-Roll river Jordan, roll
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead- Roll River Jordan
[overlapping Leader and Other singer/s]
Lead- Roll river Jordan
Roll river Jordan
[Other singer/s repeatedly sings “Ah ha”]
[Lead and Other singer/s sing together]
Roll river Jordan roll
Lead: It’s better we fit to pray
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead-Because it will be a terrible day
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead- When my God shall past through this land, to redeem
[The words “to redeem” and the Other singer/s ‘ part overlaps].
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead - His people by His hand
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
[overlapping Lead and Other singer/s’ voice]
Lead- Roll river Jordan
Roll river Jordan
[Other singer/s - repeatedly sing/s “Ah ha”]
[Lead and Other singer/s sing together]
Roll river Jordan roll
Lead: Sinners better repent and pray*
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead-Because it will be a terrible day
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead- Remember Noah build a ark, an' they mock him*
[The words “an'....” and the Other singer/s’ part overlaps].
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead - Even doubt the storm*
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
[overlapping Lead and Other singer/s voice]
Lead- Roll river Jordan
Roll river Jordan
Other singer/s - [repeatedly sings “Ah ha”]
[Lead and Other singer/s sing together]
Roll river Jordan roll

[instrumental]

Lead -Roll river Jordan, roll
Other singer/s- Roll river Jordan
Lead-Roll river Jordan, roll
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead-Roll river Jordan, roll
Other singer/s – Roll river Jordan
Lead- Roll River Jordan, roll
[overlapping Lead and Other singer/s ]
Leader- Roll river Jordan
Roll river Jordan
Other singer/s - [repeatedly sings “Ah ha”]
[Lead and Other singer/s sing together]
Roll river Jordan roll
Lead- Roll river Jordan
Roll, river Jordan
Roll river Jordan roll.
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell. The words in italic mean I guessed about that transcription. Additions and corrections are very welcome.

*Thanks to Gibb Sahib for these amended transcription suggestions [2/25/2013]

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Example #2: The Itals - Roll River Jordan



MrJahrichie, Uploaded on Sep 22, 2010
-snip-
This record was released in 1983.
From http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/rasta/terms.html
"Ital The Rastafari term for a saltless and vegetarian diet. Although not all Rastafari adhere strictly to such a diet, it serves as a model for idealized lifeways of practitioners. During Nyabinghi ceremonies (which last for up to a week), an Ital diet is part of the ritual protocol observed by communicants."
-snip-
Click http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Roll-River-Jordan-lyrics-The-Itals/C117176B1400BCF248256CC7000FBF55 for the lyrics to this song.

Partial lyrics:
"Jordan River's gonna roll
Roll River Jordan roll
Meet me at the bank of the beautiful river
Meet me at the bank of the beautiful river"

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Example #3: Burning Spear - Jordan River [Live] [Prevlousily Unrelaesed] [#]



RastaChaka, Uploaded on May 30, 2009

Mixed at Island Studios,Hammersmith U.K. .Godwin Logie & Terry Barham - Engineers
Produced by Denise Mills . Track 17 - from the album - "Live" released 1978
Track 18 - previously unreleased
-snip-
Click http://www.jah-lyrics.com/index.php?songid=1135 for the lyrics to this song.

Partial lyrics:
"Jordan River go roll, a go roll.
Jordan River a go roll, a go roll.
Jordan River a go roll, a go roll.
Roll, Jordan River!
Roll, Jordan River!
Roll, Jordan River!
Let it roll, let it roll, let it roll,
Roll, roll, roll."

****
Example #4: Linval Thompson - Roll river Jordan (Happy Faces) 7"



Jahstariddim, Uploaded on Nov 22, 2011

1976 Very strong tune made by Linval in New York and released in Jamaica.Hard-hitting lyrics like :

'If the rich man don't try to help the poor man, blood gonna roll like river Jordan..'
-snip-
Click http://www.reggae-vibes.com/concert/linthompson/linthompson2.htm for an interview with Linval Thompson about this song. In that Inteview Linval said that “It start (sings): 'Roooll river Jordan...' ”
-snip-
LYRICS: ROLL RIVER JORDAN
(Linval Thompson)

Roll River Jordan
Roll River Jordan
If the rich man don't try to help the poor man,
blood gonna roll like river Jordan..
Roll, River Jordan
Roll, River Jordan
If the rich woman don't try to help the poor man,
Blood gonna roll like river Jordan.
Roll, River Jordan, Roll
Ah, I can read
For so long I read it in the Bible
That blood gonna roll like river Jordan..
Roll, River Jordan, Roll.
The poor man need a helping hand.
Roll, River Jordan, Roll.

The poor woman need help.
The rich man have everything
And the poor man can’t obtain nothing.
Roll, River Jordan, Roll.
The poor man need help.
Roll, River Jordan, Roll.

The poor woman need help.

Aha,I feel so lost
Aha, I feel so lost
Aha, lalalalalalala
lalalalala

Aha, I can read
For so long I read it in the Bible
I read it in the Bible
That blood gonna roll like river Jordan..
Roll, River Jordan, Roll
Roll, River Jordan, Roll.

If the rich man don't try to help the poor man,
They gonna find out something.
Blood gonna roll like River Jordan.
Roll, River Jordan, Roll

Ro-ll, River Jordan, Roll.
Ro-ll, River Jordan, Roll.
The poor man need help.
The poor woman need help.

The poor man need help
And the rich man have everything, ah hun

Roll, River Jordan, Roll.
Roll, River Jordan.
Blood gonna roll like River Jordan.
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file. Additions and corrections are very welcome.

****
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the featured artists and groups for their musical legacy. My thanks to the quoted transcribers for their transcriptions. Thanks also to the authors of the articles that are quoted in this post, and to the uploaders of these featured sound file and video.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Read More

Jamaican Songs About The River Jordan (Part I)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post is Part I of a two part series that presents some information about, and a very small sample of Jamaican songs about the river Jordan. These posts also include transcriptions of those song lyrics when those lyrics aren't found online, or links to those song lyrics if those lyrics are already found online.

Part I of this series also provides some information about the religious and folkloric significance of the Jordan river, as well as some information about the much older African American Spiritual "Roll River Roll".

The three songs that are featured in Part I of this series are
Laurel Aitken - "Roll Jordan Roll", Wingless Angels -"Roll River Jordan", and a Zion Sacred Heart Sabbath church (Jamaica) congregational rendition of "Roll Jordan Roll".

Among the songs about the river Jordan that I've found on YouTube, these three songs are closest to the lyrics of- and in the case of the Wingless Angels song, closest to the tune of the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll". An online article that I have found about Laurel Aitken's song [citation given in a quote below that sound file] describe that song as a "spiritual". While that descriptor is probably also appropriate for the Wingless Angel's rendition of "Roll River Jordan", I would probably categorize the Zion Sacred Heart church song as a Jamaican Gospel song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/jamaican-songs-about-river-jordan-part.html for Part II of this series.

The featured Jamaican songs in Part II are Clancy Eccles with Hersang -"River Jordan", Burning Spear- "Jordan River", The Itals - Roll River Jordan", and Linval Thompson - "Roll river Jordan".


DISCLAIMER: I am not Jamaican. Nor am I an expert of or highly knowledgeable about Jamaican music.

The primary purpose of this Pancocojams blog-and my Cocojams and Jambalayah websites-is to raise awareness of various examples of African American, African, and other African Diaspora music & dance forms. Particularly on Pancocojams, I feature an eclectic mix of music & dance forms from the USA and from other parts of the world.

In addition to raising awareness of those specific music/dance examples and their music genres, if known, my goal for Pancocojams & those websites is to encourage persons who are experts and are very knowledgeable about those examples & genres to add online information (including correct lyrics), sound files and/or videos.

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The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, folkloric, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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PART I - JAMAICAN SONGS ABOUT THE RIVER JORDAN

RELIGIOUS AND FOLKLORIC SIGNIFICANCES OF THE JORDAN RIVER
The Jordan river has numerous Old Testament Biblical significances. Among those significances ares
1. The New Testament states that John the Baptist baptised Jesus and other persons in Jordan river.
2. The New Testament speaks several times about Jesus crossing the Jordan during his ministry...and of believers crossing the Jordan to come hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases ... When his enemies sought to capture him, Jesus took refuge at Jordan in the place John had first baptised.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_River#Symbolic_importance

From the Wikipedia article whose link is given above:
"The Jordan is a frequent symbol in folk, gospel, and spiritual music, or in poetic or literary works.

Because the Israelites made a difficult and hazardous journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom in The Promised Land, the Jordan can refer to freedom. The actual crossing is the final step of the journey, which is then complete."
-snip-
In numerous African American songs, the Jordan river is used as a metaphor of the line that separates earth from the promised land, heaven. Besides "Roll Jordan Roll", another example of this use of the Jordan river as a metaphor is the African American Spiritual "Deep River" ("Deep river, my home is over Jordan/Deep river, Lord/I want to cross over into camp ground".)

I don't agree with the notion that every African American Spiritual contains coded references. Nor do I agree with the notion that those Spirituals that may sometimes contain coded references contained those references everytime that they were sung. My position is that sometimes the word "heaven" or the words "the promised land" was sung in a Spiritual, those words did mean "the North, or Canada, that is a place where enslaved people could be free." But sometimes the words "heaven" and "the promised land" just meant "heaven", the promised land.

COMMENTS ABOUT THE SONGS "JORDAN RIVER" AND "ROLL RIVER JORDAN"
Given the known dates of the first publication of the African American Spiritual "Roll River Roll" that song is clearly a source of the Jamaican songs "Jordan River", and "Roll River Jordan". The first publication of the African American song Roll Jordan Roll is given as 1862 ["Roll Jordan Roll" was the second African American Spiritual to be published. The first African American Spiritual that was published -in 1861- was "Go Down Moses". http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=39230#556886 ].

In contrast, Jo-Ann Greene, the author of a review of the 1983 Itals record "Roll River Jordan" writes that "The Jordan River has inspired countless Jamaican artists over the years - Clancy Eccles was one of the earliest, and recorded an exuberant "Jordan River" in 1961, which was followed by a deluge of similarly themed singles." http://www.allmusic.com/song/roll-river-jordan-mt0011956470.

I'm not sure when the Jamaican song "Roll Jordan Roll was first composed, but it's likely that it is much newer than the African American Spiritual with that same name. However, it may predate the Reggae Jordan River songs.

Except for the words "roll","Jordan", and "river", the lyrics to the Jamaican religious song "Roll Jordan Roll" and the Jamaican secular (Reggae) songs "Jordan River" & "Roll River Jordan" are completely different from the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll". Like the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll", the Wingless Angels recording and the Zion Sacred Heart Sabbath church song includes the lyrics "Roll Jordan Roll, and "I want to go to go to heaven when I die to hear oh Jordan roll", though significantly, the Wingless Angels replaces the word "Heaven" with the word "Zion". However, with exception of the Wingless Angels recording, the tune and structure of each of those Caribbean songs which are featured in this post also differ from that African American Spiritual.

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FEATURED EXAMPLES

Example #1: Laurel Aitken - Roll Jordan Roll


RudeeStomper,Uploaded on Jan 7, 2011

Extraido del Album: The Blue Beat Years
-snip-
Here's information about this Ska Spiritual from http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1422115/a/Blue+Beat+Years.htm:
"Blue Beat Years album by Laurel Aitken was released Jan 01, 1996 on the Moon Ska label. THE BLUE BEAT YEARS features new recordings of Laurel Aitken classics. Blue Beat Years music CDs In ska history, "Bluebeat" is a description akin to "Motown." A record label, in this case one licensing Jamaican singles in the UK for West Indian immigrants and adventurous youngsters, becomes a generic term for a type of music-peppy ska tunes with romantic and occasional social commentary lyrics. Blue Beat Years songs Laurel Aitken was possibly the biggest solo singer of the Bluebeat years. Blue Beat Years album Those expecting a slice of ska history will be somewhat disappointed by this misleadingly titled CD, as it consists entirely of 1995 re-recordings of vintage early '60s ska singles."
-snip-
According to this article http://ricorodriguez.wikia.com/wiki/Laurel_Aitken, "As early as in 1957 Laurel Aitken started to play music with so called "conscience" content or biblical lyrics and using burru drumming to underline the song's messages...Barrow and Dalton see the source for those biblical themes not in the Rastafarian movement but in the strong influence of revivalist churches in Jamaica."
-snip-
Unfortunately, I also haven't found any lyrics for this song online. I'm not Jamaican & am not familiar with patois and therefore have difficulty transcribing this song. However, here's a small portion of the song that I understood:
"Roll Jordan Roll
Response: River Jordan
Roll Jordan Roll
Response: River Jordan
I want to go to heaven when I die to
hear river Jordan roll
I don’t come here to make to botheration
I come here to read revelation
Roll river Jordan roll.
Response: River Jordan Roll
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from sound file. Italics mean that I'm unsure of this transcription. Additions and corrections are very welcome.

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Example #2: wingless angels ~ roll river jordan



Uploaded on Jan 22, 2010
-snip-
This recording combines Nyahbingi drums with the familiar tune for the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll".
Here's a quote from that group's website http://www.winglessangels.com/explorethemusic-volume-1.htm

"The original Wingless Angels album was released in 1997. The liner notes, written by Vivien Goldman, are available below:

The nyabinghi Rastafarian drummers. Wingless Angels live in Steer Town, a village perched vertiginously high above Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and the cobalt Caribbean The Nyabinghi, to which Wingless Angels belong, are a strict Rastafarian sect: Old Testament, dreadlock devotees who worship the Emperor Haile Selassie by drumming and chanting down Babylon-the forces opression. Such grounation sessions create a spiritual force field audible in these chants' potent magic, invoking Biblical cosmology to heal and inspire..."
-snip-
Here's another quote about Nyabinghi:
From http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/rasta/terms.html
"Nyabinghi (Ni-uh-bin-gee) This term has a series of overlapping meanings within the contemporary Rastafari Movement. It refers variously to the island-wide religious gatherings of Rasta brethren and sistren at which communicants "praise Jah" and "chant down Babylon," to the three-part drum ensemble on which chants are composed, to the African-derived dance-drumming style performed at these events, and to the corpus of chants themselves. It also refers to the most orthodox organization within the broader Rasta movement variously known as the House of Nyabinghi or the Theocratic Government of Emperor Haile Selassie I. The term Nyabinghi entered the movement in late 1935 during the Italian Invasion of Ethiopia and is actually derived from an African secret society which operated in the Congo and Ruwanda during the last quarter of the 19th century."
-snip-

LYRICS: ROLL JORDAN ROLL
(Wingless Angels)

Roll , Jordan Roll,
River Jordan
Roll, Jordan, Roll
I want to go to Zion when I die
To go hear river Jordan roll.

River Jordan.
Roll , Jordan Roll,
River Jordan
Roll, Jordan, Roll
I want to go to Zion when I die
We go hear river Jordan roll.

Rastaman said
Roll Jordan Roll,

(repeat entire song multiple times, and end with)

I want to go to Zion when I die*
We go hear river Jordan roll.

I want to go to Zion when I die
We go hear river Jordan roll.
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from sound file. Italics means that I'm unsure of this transcription. Additions and corrections are very welcome.
-snip-
The words "I want to go to heaven when I die fi hear river Jordan roll" are at the beginning of an article about Jamaican dance in this pdf file: catherine-hall-MAGAZINE-3.pdf , Article title: Africa's Dance.] I think "fi" means something like "for to".

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Example #3: Zion Sacred Heart - Roll Jordan Roll

111 videos

msmillions4, Uploaded on Oct 15, 2011
-snip-
“Zion Sacred Heart Sabbath Church” is a Jamaican originating Christian denomination. Churches in this denomination are found in Jamaica, in New York City (Brooklyn, Manhattan), in Toronto, Canada and in some other locations.
-snip-

LYRICS: ROLL JORDAN ROLL
(Zion Sacred Heart Sabbath Church congregation - Jamaica)

[This song is already in progress when the video begins.]

Group- Roll, Jordan, roll
Roll, Jordan, roll
Roll, Jordan, roll
I want to go to heaven when I die
to hear oh Jordan roll

Lead Singer: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Lead: Roll!
Response: One day Jordan gonna roll
Both: For I want to go to heaven when I die to
hear oh Jordan roll.

[The entire call & response portion is repeated multiple times.]
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the video. Additions and corrections are very welcome.

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RELATED LINKS
Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=39230#555375 for the standard lyrics to the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll".

Click http://www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/roll-jordan-roll-the-slave-song-lucy-mckim-taught-the-world for historical information about Lucy McKim, the transcriber of the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll" (1862).

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcwRja6F0uQ for a link to a video of the African American Spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll" as recorded by The Fairfield Four.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the Wingless Angels for their musical legacy. My thanks also to the Zion Sacred Heart congregation that was featured in a video in this post. Thanks also to the authors of the articles that are quoted in this post, and to the uploaders of these featured sound file and video.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Read More

"Yonder Come My Jesus" (sung to the tune "Michael Row The Boat Ashore")

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents three examples of the Gospel song "Yonder Come My Jesus". This song has the same tune & a somewhat similar pattern as the song "Michael Row The Boat Ashore".

The only other reference that I've found online to this song is a line in Howard W. Odum's 1909 university dissertation "Religious Folk-Songs Of The Southern Negroes".
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39078/39078-h/39078-h.htm. That line "Oh yonder comes my Jesus, I know him by his shinin’" is given as line #13 in an 19 line excerpt of a "negro" religious song as part of a description about how those songs included concrete descriptions of Jesus. [I put quotation marks around that spelling "negro" because it's considered offensive now to spell that referent that way.]

In the first two videos, uploaded by the same person, this song was sung by members of the Primitive Baptist Church denomination. In the context of this church denomination "primitive" has the meaning "original"*. The third video may also be from that same denomination, but that information isn't given in the video's summary.

I'm not sure if that second part of the line given in Odum's example is included in the examples that I've transcribed below, since I was unable to decipher every line that was sung in these videos. In my transcriptions the lines that I'm unable to decipher are given as question marks. The phrases or words that I'm not certain of are given in italics. Additions and corrections are very welcome.

*Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primitive_Baptists for information about the Primitive Baptist denomination.

This post is presented for historical, religious, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SONG
"Yonder Come My Jesus" appears to be an old time African American religious song or at least a religious song that is sung in the old time, lining out, surge style. Information about surge singing, which is described as an "older black spiritual style" is given in this quote from an article about Claude Joseph Johnson http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=1987_06&type=bio

Normally referred to as "lining out," this style began during slavery when hymnbooks were not available and literacy was punished. Hymns were therefore "dictated," sung a line at a time by a lead singer, with the congregation often echoing the lead voice in a call-and-response pattern that originated in Africa. Over the centuries, the effects have become subtler, with the lead voice and congregation overlapping, supporting, and decorating the elongated hymn tunes until an extraordinary effect, sometimes called "surge singing," has been achieved.

Additional links to information or comments about surge singing and lining out are found in the related links section below.

As is the case with Spiritual, old time Gospel songs, and folk songs, it's very likely that the lines (lyrics, verses) for this song aren't completely fixed. The order of the verses, and the length of this song are also probably not fixed.

Performance description:
A leader sings the first line and the congregation sings the next line and the repeat of the first line. The congregation may also join in the singing of the first line.

Definition & Additional Examples Of Religious Songs With The Word "Yonder"
"Yonder" means "over in a distance from where you are".

Other African American religious songs that include the word "yonder" are "Yonder Come Day" and "Going Up Yonder". The word "yonder" is also found in the religious song "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder".

FEATURED VIDEOS
These videos are presented in the order of their posting dates, with the oldest dates given first.

Example #1: Elder James Hudson - Elder A. Austin (Yonder Come My Jesus)



mountcalvarypb, Uploaded on Mar 9, 2010

The Mount Calvary Primitive Baptist Association October 2009 which was held at Pleasant Grove Primitive Baptist Church. Our Next Session will be held at County Line Primitive Baptist Church on HWY 212 in Milledgeville, GA beginning Friday before the 1st Sunday in October 2010.
-snip-
The first part of this video- until 1.07- is a rendition of a portion of another old time African American church song that is also unfamiliar to me. That song is entitled "Who Is Going Down In The Grave With Me":

Jesus goin down in the grave with me
Oh, Jesus going down in the grave with me
Well, Jesus goin down in the grave with me
Oh, When I die
Jesus goin down in the grave with me
Oh, Jesus going down in the grave with me
Well, Jesus goin down in the grave with me
When I die.
-snip-
I found a sound file of "Who Is Going Down In The Grave With Me" as sung by Rev. Julius Cheeks & Family http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyE5tgYvRYU. I also found a sound file of that song as sung by The Mighty Clouds Of Joy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgyq5NLM3pM.

To clarify, I'm very familiar with the verse "I am going to trust in the Lord/till I die". However, I didn't know that that verse was part of a song "Who Is Going Down In The Grave With Me".
-snip
The song "Yonder Come My Jesus" begins at 2:28. It was sung during an “offering”. An “offering” is when those present (the congregation) give money to the church for its upkeep or for missionary work. A man is heard setting a goal of $500.00 for this offering. Some men (probably the church "Trustees [church officials] are shown counting the money that was given.

These lyrics are based on descriptions of Jesus, professions of faith, and accounts of Jesus' crucifixion.

LYRICS: YONDER COME MY JESUS (Example #1)
Church, yonder come my Jesus
Hallelujah
Oh I said, yonder come my Jesus
Hallelujah

[Follow this pattern throughout. The beginning word in line #3 appears to usually start with "oh".]

Well, He’s comin on the clouds, now...

Well, I said in Heaven I shall see Him....

Well, you know that in Heaven He’s got the power...

Well I said yonder come my Jesus...

Oh, how do you know that Jesus...

Well, His hair was white like lamb’s wool...

Well, His heart was a flame on fire...

Well, his vestiments were dipped in blood, y’all...
[vestiments= vestments meaning his ceremonial robe, garment]

Oh church, how do you know that Jesus...

Well, they crowned Him, the King of Kings...

Well, He’s comin on the clouds, y’all...

Oh church, yonder come my Jesus...

Well, He’s the beginning and the end, y’all...

Oh, He’s the first and the last...

Well, He’s the alpha and omega...

I cried Halle, Hallelujah...

I shouted, Halle, Hallelujah...

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Example #2: Pilgrim Chapel Primitive Baptist Church - Baptism Service July 2, 2011



Mountcalvarypb, Uploaded on Jul 5, 2011

Pilgrim Chapel Primitive Baptist Church - Baptism Service July 2, 2011
-snip-
This is the first video of a Baptism service. This singing is in the worship service prior to the formal church service. The chairs that are placed in the front are for two Baptism candidates and an older woman who may be their relative, or may be an unrelated church elder. This rendition begins before the start of the video & the video ends before the song ends. In the subsequent video of that same church service, that song isn't continued.

Most of the lyrics in this version of "Yonder Come My Jesus" are based on accounts of Jesus' crucifixion. These lyrics also include a profession of faith ("Church, He got all my troubles" which is probably another way of saying that Jesus dying on the cross took all people’s sins away.)

LYRICS - YONDER COME MY JESUS (Example #2)
(Church,) Yonder come my Jesus,
Hallelujah
Oh, yonder come my Jesus
Hallelujah

[Follow this pattern throughout. The beginning word in line #3 appear to usually start with "oh" or "well" instead of "church".]

Church, the ship done rockin and reelin...

Church, He got all my troubles...

Oh, yonder come my Jesus...

Church, they whipped Him all night long...

Church, they pierced Him in His side...

Church, ????

Church, they marched Him all around...

Church, They put Him on a rugged cross...

Church, they put on a stony [?]...

Church, they put on a starry crown...

Church, they switched Him an awful while...["switched" = beat him with swithes (sticks)]

Church, they hung Him. He bled and died...

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Example #3: Elder Grier " yonder come my Jesus "



1twinsma, Published on Jul 2, 2012

Mount Nebo 2012
-snip-
This rendition has a slightly different tune than the previous two. However, the similarity to the tune used for "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" can still be heard. Perhaps the tune sounds different because the surge singing style is more pronounced in this rendition than in the other two examples.

These lyrics are mostly based on accounts of Jesus' crucifixion.

LYRICS: YONDER COME MY JESUS (Example #3)
(This transcription begins at .20 of the video.)

They whipped Him all night long
Hallelujah
They whipped Him all night long
Hallelujah

Church, they pierced Him in His side
Hallelujah
They pierced Him in His side
Hallelujah

[Follow this pattern throughout. The beginning word in line #3 appear to usually start with "oh" or "well" instead of "church".]

???

???

???

They put him on a rugged cross...

They switched Him an awful while...

Church, He hung His head and died...

The ship is rockin and a reelin...

Church, yonder come my Jesus...

Church, He got all my sickness...

Church, yonder come my Jesus...

****
RELATED LINKS
Information about "lining out songs" and "surge" singing is found in an excerpt of the article "Dr. Watts and Mahalia Jackson - The Development, Decline, and Survival of a Folk Style in America" by William H. Tallmadge is found at this link http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/924323?uid=3739864&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101851374917

**
Also, information about lining out is found on this Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lining_out

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the unknown composers of this religious song. Thanks also to the church members who are shown singing this song. Thanks also to the author of the article which is quoted in this post and the uploaders of these videos.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Read More

West African Roots Of The Harlem Shake Shoulder Movements

Edited by Azizi Powell

Since the Harlem Shake video craze erupted on the internet in February 2013, there has been renewed interest in the origins of the Harlem Shake dance. The "real" Harlem Shake dance emphasizes rhythmic shoulder movements. This rhythmical dance is in stark contrast to the just-for-fun mish mash motions that mostly costumed people do in the recent Harlem Shake videos.

The Ethiopian Eskista dance is often cited as the source for the "original" Harlem Shake of 1981, which was then popularized in 2001 by its inclusion in a number of Hip-Hop videos. However, in my post on the Harlem Shake The Harlem Shake (Origins, Old School Examples, & Internet Meme) http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-origins-several-examples-of-harlem.html, I suggested that it's much more likely that someone who knew about the Eskista dance and saw the albee/Harlem Shake dance, recognized the similarities between those two dances.

This post showcases seven videos of songs from Benin, West Africa. While the music is worthy to be listened to on their own merits, and the entire videos are quite interesting to watch, in this post I would particularly like to direct viewers' attention to the shoulder movements that are performed by the dancers. I'm not a dance historian, nor am I a dancer, but it strikes me that these shoulder movements* are quite similar to the Harlem Shake's shoulder movements.

*Are these shoulder movements called isolations or popping?

This is not to say that these Beninese dance movements are the direct or even the indirect source of the Harlem Shake. This also is not to say that these Beninese dances are the only examples of dancing that includes shoulder movements in Benin, West Africa or in traditional dancing from any other African nation.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners

FEATURED VIDEOS
(These videos are presented in no particular order.)

Example #1 alekpehanhou agbon hou agbon



polorishas1, Uploaded on Feb 28, 2009

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Example #2: Abomey Hogbonou


vignon2000, Uploaded on Jan 6, 2008
A Benin: bomey Hogbonou
-snip-
Here are three comments from that video's viewer comment thread:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1T3UQ61uJc

fanhopem 2008
"I like this song because it talks about reconcialition between ethnics in Benin."
**
Rasprogress, 2009
"Come to think of it, Haitian Kreyol sounds so much like Fon. I've been enjoying this clip so much. Me do Apke mon confrere."
-snip-
"Fon" is an ethnic group and a language. Click http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/fon.htm for information about Fon.
**
Outreachat, 2010
"This is exactly like the bolojo music of the Egba-Egbado, the Egun's neighbours in Nigeria. There are elements of the old sakara tradition of Yusuf Olatunji in it as well. Those of us in Nigeria must continue to hope that the renewed attention that Tope Alabi is giving bolojo in her gospel music will elevate the quality of modern interest in the form. Bolojo (at least that's how I know what I've just heard) is a very fine, intricate form of call-and-response music."
-snip-
Unrelated to the dance movements in this video, I just want to say that I love those women's hair styles which contemporary African Americans call "Nubian knots".

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Example #3: Didolanvi Félix



polorishas1, Uploaded on Feb 21, 2009

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Example #4: Benin music Anice Pepe SATIGBAN TOWE



HERVAKOMDJ, Uploaded on Oct 11, 2009

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Example #5: Agbadja, Gbessi Zolawadji (Benin)


Chapeauson, Uploaded on Jan 25, 2010
Tous mes Respects à Gbessi Zolawadji et ses talentieux chorégraphes.Notre tradition fait notre force!!!
-snip-
This video also showcases body patting the source of African American patting juba (commonly known as hambone). Some forms of pattin juba can still be found in historically Black Greek lettered fraternity and sorority steppin’ routines.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/hambone-african-roots-contemporary.html for a post about the Hambone - African Roots & Contemporary Examples

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Example #6: Benin- Ange Ahouangonou - Kpagbe se



yel Yel, Uploaded on Apr 24, 2008

kaka music from benin
-snip-
“Kaka” is a type of rhythm.

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Example #7: BENIN SAGBOHAN Miétonouwè



Frere Kandevie, Uploaded on May 29, 2008

Extract from Roots (West Africa)
-snip-
This vocalist's/musician's name is Sagbohan Danialou ("Danialou" is his personal name & "Sagbohan" is his surname).

ADDENDUM
Here's a quote from http://www.african-music-safari.com/agbadza.html about the Agbadja rhythm & dance that I believe is performed in video example #5, and perhaps also in other videos on this post:
"The Famous Ewe Rhythm And Dance.

It's probably Agbadza, if there's only one traditional rhythm you remember upon return from Ghana or Togo. To tourists without any knowledge of Ewe drumming, this fun piece is simply known as "the chicken dance". You'll know why when you see it!..."
-snip-
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewe_people
"The Ewe (Eʋeawó "Ewe people", Eʋedukɔ́ "Ewe nation"[1]) are a people located in southern Togo, southern Benin, and south-eastern parts of the Volta Region of Ghana."
-snip-
With regard to the Agbadza dance being called the "chicken dance", it should be noted that the 2006 African American dance "Chicken Noodle Soup" is based on the earlier Harlem Shake.

RELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/langston-hughes-note-on-commercial.html for a post about the Langston Hughes poem "Note On A Commerial Theatre" (also known as "You've Taken My Blues And Gone". That post also includes my critique of the Harlem Shake video craze.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the featured artists for their musical legacy. My thanks to all the vocalists, musicians, and dancers who performed in these featured videos. Thanks also to the commentaters who are quoted in this post and to the uploaders of these featured videos.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Read More

The Staple Singers - I Know I Been Changed (sound file & lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents a sound file & lyrics for the song "I Know I've Been Changed" as sung by The Staple Singers. Information about The Staple Singers is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE STAPLE SINGERS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Staple_Singers
"The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (1914–2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (b. 1934), Pervis (b. 1935), Yvonne (b. 1936), and Mavis (b. 1939). They are best known for their 1970s hits "Respect Yourself", "I'll Take You There", "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)", and "Let's Do It Again"...

In 1999, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Pops Staples died of complications from a concussion suffered in December 2000. In 2005, the group was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Mavis Staples has continued to carry on the family tradition and continues to add her vocal talents to both the projects of other artists and her own solo ventures."

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FEATURED SOUND FILE
The Staple Singers - I Know I've Been Changed



verosartis, Uploaded on Nov 13, 2008

cut from Great Day LP

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LYRICS - I KNOW I'VE BEEN CHANGED
(as sung by The Staple Singers)

Chorus: 2x
I, know I've been changed.
I, know I've been changed.
I, know I've been changed.
The angels in Heaven done signed my name.
The angels in Heaven done signed my name.

Verse #1
I know I got religion.
Lord knows I’m not ashamed.
The Holy Ghost is my witness.
You know the angels done signed my name.

Chorus (1x)

Verse #2
I know I been converted.
Lord knows I been redeemed.
You can wake me up in the midnight’s hour
And I’ll tell you just what I seen.

Chorus (1x)
-snip-
This is a basic transcription by Azizi Powell (without any interjections). Corrections & additions are welcome.

After transcribing this sound file, I found very similar lyrics of this rendition of The Staple Singers' "I Know I've Been Changed"
on http://www.namethathymn.com/hymn-lyrics-detective-forum/index.php?a=vtopic&t=9
-snip-
"I Know I've Been Changed" is a very well known Gospel song among African Americans. This song has been recorded by a number of Gospel vocalists & choirs. "I Know I've Been Changed" has also been adapted & sung (usually during probate*) by some historically Black Greek lettered sororities & fraternities. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3eDZI18EvM for a beautiful rendition of "I Know I Been Changed" as sung by members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. (at .19 - 1.20)

*probate (noun) - a program in which new members of a specific sorority or fraternity are first introduced to other members of that Greek lettered organization and to the public.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to The Staple Singers for their musical legacy. My thanks to the composer of this song & the musicians who performed on this featured song. Thanks also to the author of the Wikipedia article which is quoted in this post and the uploader of this featured sound file.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

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Big Mama Thornton "One More River" (Sound File & Lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents a sound file & lyrics for the song "One More River" by Big Mama Thornton. Information about Big Mama Thornton is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, religious, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT BIG MAMA THORNTON
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mama_Thornton
"Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952.[1] The record was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953;[2] the single sold almost two million copies.[3] Its B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama." Three years later, Elvis Presley recorded his even more broadly successful rendition of "Hound Dog," based on a version performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. Similarly, Thornton wrote and recorded "Ball 'n' Chain", which became a hit for her,[1] yet Janis Joplin's later recording of it made a bigger impact in the late 1960s.

Thornton was born in Ariton, Alabama, United States. Her introduction to music started in a Baptist church, where her father was a minister and her mother a church singer. She and her six siblings began to sing at very early ages...She was also a self-taught drummer and harmonica player, and frequently played each instrument onstage."...

FEATURED SOUND FILE
One More River"- Big Mama Thornton



Rowoches, Uploaded on Mar 7, 2011

Blues Legend, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton singing a Gospel number, "One More River." From the 1971 album, SAVED.

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LYRICS - ONE MORE RIVER
(sung by Big Mama Thornton & choir)

Lead:
Great day in the morning,
I got one more
River
Before,
Before,
Before
I just reach
my journey’s end.

I got one more
little mountain.
I got one more, oh Lord, I said mountain.
I know I got one more, one more mountain
Before,
Before,
Before
I reach
my journey’s end.

Leader - Oh Lord!
You got
You got one more little mountain
Group ( overlapping leader, continues to sing ) one more river
Leader-to cross.
Leader- You got one more mountain and a river
Leader and Group- before you reach your end.

Group - Oh-oh oh oh oh, shout!
Leader – I want to shout, Jesus.
Group (continues singing) - Just shout !
Leader – Lord have mercy, Jesus.
Group – Oh shout!
Leader – I want you to lift me up.
Group- Oh shout, shout!
Leader – Stand me tall.
Group- Shout, shout , shout.
Leader – I want you to carry me home safely.
Group - Shout!
Leader – And make sure
my trials is done.
Group (overlapping with Leader) – And make sure my trials is done.

Leader & Group (singing together)- One more river,
One more mountain,
One more river
Leader- to cross
(Group stops singing)
Leader -Before you reach your end.
Lord, before you reach your end.
Oh oh oh!
Before,
Before,
Before,
You reach
Your journey’s end.
Group (with Leader joining in towards the end) - Ah Ah Aaah!
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the sound file. Italics mean that I'm unsure of that transcription. Additions & corrections are very welcome.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Big Mama Thornton for her musical legacy. My thanks to the composer of this song, the other vocalists & the musicians who performed on this featured song. Thanks also to the author of the article which is quoted in this post and the uploader of this featured sound file.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

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Good Hair & Bad Hair (Black Attitudes About Our Hair)

Written by Azizi Powell

"Having a bad hair day" means something different to Black females than it does to White females.

I believe that at one time or another most African Americans have accepted mainstream White society's highly positive valuation of long, naturally straight hair or long, naturally curly hair over any other types of hair textures.

When I was growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s no Black female even THOUGHT about wearing their hair in an afro. All the girls who I knew, including myself, wanted long, flowing hair. As part of our play acting, I recall my sisters and I wearing towels on our head, pretending it was hair, and moving our head from side to side, to mimic the hair flicking motions that we saw White women on television do.

It appears to me that in the United States very few Black girls wear their hair natural & closely cropped like that I've seen in videos of many young African girls. And very few Black girls under the age of 18 years old in my adopted hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania wear their hair in afros, or dreadlocks. If they did, I'm certain that they would be teased by other Black children for having "nappy hair" - as if most of those Black children doing that taunting didn't also have that textures of hair. I wrote "textures" because there are different textures of hair that are referred to as nappy. "Kinky", "course",
frizzy", and "tightly curly" are other words for the same type of hair. Some Black people, including me, have more than one "grade of hair" (another way of saying hair texture), including portions of their hair that is much straighter than other portions. And speaking of grades of hair, if the textures of hair were really graded, most Black people would give nappy hair a failing grade.

As a testimony to the destructive nature of Black self-hatred that is caused by racism, when I was growing up in the 1950s most Black people called long, flowing, straight hair that White people had "good hair". "Bad hair" was tightly curled, nappy, kinky hair that many Black people had. These terms "good hair" and "bad hair" are STILL used today by many African Americans, although there is increasing pushback among Black people about those terms' negative connotations.

I have particular strong memories of how Black children I grew up with favored other girls who had "straight hair". Foremost in those memories are two biological sisters who lived in my neighborhood and attended school with me from elementary school through high school (in the 1950s to 1965). One of these sisters who I'll call Sharon was light skin with long straight brown hair. The other sister who I'll call Brenda had brown skin and long hair which had a somewhat curly/straight texture that probably didn't "need to be" further straightened with a hot comb - as hair straightening was done in those days. For the record, both of these girl's biological parents were Black, although that couple probably had some White and/or Native American ancestry.

I definitely recall the girls in our elementary school touching and "playing with" both of those girls' hair. All the students in our elementary school were Black. I don't recall ever joining other girls in playing with those sisters' hair girls, in part because they were real popular and I wasn't and in part because I was real shy, and didn't easily play with other children except my sisters. However, I definitely remember admiring both of those girl's hair and wishing that my tightly curled hair which was almost down to my shoulders had the same texture and the same length as either one of those sisters.

Although the girls in our school and our neighborhood played with or wanted to play with both of these girls' hair, without question, I remember that Sharon was the girl whose hair was the one most of the girls in our school & our neighborhood wanted to comb, and braid, and style. That was because her hair was "just like White peoples".

I also distinctly remember that when we were in high school Sharon either cut her hair or had her hair cut very short. (This was in the early 1960s when short hair wasn't a style). I also remember someone asking her why she had cut her hair off and I remember Sharon saying that she was tired of people always touching her hair. For whatever reason, Brenda left her hair long but it still seemed to me that still girls wanted to "play with" her sister's hair more than with Brenda's hair. When I learned the term "colorism" (discrimination and favoritism based on skin color http://racerelations.about.com/od/understandingrac1/a/What-Is-Colorism.htm ), I recognized that was why Black girls (and Black guys?) way back then favored light skinned Sharon over her brown skin sister Brenda.

Years passed, and from 2008 to 2010 I was a substitute teacher and an after-school program assistant in an elementary school with a student population that was 99.9% Black. During those years, despite the "Say It Loud, I'm Black And I'm Proud" Black cultural movement from the late 1960s on, usually light skinned Black girls with long straight hair seemed to me to be favored more than other Black girls. I'd often notice those Black girls touching and playing with the braids of those lighter skinned girls. And it often appeared to me that those girls got tired of other people "messin' with" their hair. This happened a number of times during free time after lunch. When I saw that a girl was bothered by other people wanting to re-braid her hair, I'd redirect that student, reminding her that she wasn't supposed to be "messing with" anyone else’s hair without her or his permission, and besides that, school isn’t a beauty parlor.

Several times when I was a substitute teacher in that school, I witnessed Black girls "playing with" their White teachers' hair. The teacher would be sitting at her desk, engaged in some activity or another, and the Black girl would come up to her and, without permission, start to play with that teacher's hair. I never saw those teacher tell those girls to stop. Given my subordinate role as a substitute teacher in those classrooms, I usually didn't say anything to those teachers in front of their (actually "our") students. However, sometimes I'd give the girls the eye or shake my head, signaling them to stop what they should stop what they were doing. I believe that these White women didn't "get" that those Black girls who were casually playing with their teachers' hair might have issues with their own hair. But, I admit that I didn't "school" those teachers on what I thought was going on.

I also saw Black girls playing with the hair of White university college students who volunteer in that school's after-school program. It's possible that this may have been the first time that those volunteers from various universities had ever been around Black people. I could see that some of those college students didn't like students "playing with" their hair, but they seemed reluctant (or scared) to say anything to those Black girls. In those after-school programs my position was higher than then those volunteers, and consequently I could directly tell the girls to stop playing with those volunteers hair and return to what they were supposed to be doing. I purposely didn't make this a racial issue in front of those university students, alhough I believed that it was indeed a racial issue. It bothered me to see those girls playing with the White college students's hair, and I know that I wasn't the only Black adult in that room that it bothered. But neither I nor anyone else ever sat those girls down when those college students weren't present and talked to them about why what they were doing bothered us. I admit that I didn't have the energy to talk about the subject of why Black people seem to favor "hair like White people's" over "hair like most Black people" - which is partly why I'm writing this blog post.

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: What Is Good Hair? - Tyra (Part 1)



Megami284,Uploaded on May 17, 2009

The Tyra Banks Show - ''African American women's hair'' (Recorded May 12, 2009, WWOR)

We're getting to the root of the African-American "good hair" phenomenon. Find out how hair impacts the community's culture and even self-esteem.

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Example #2: What Is Good Hair? - Tyra (Part 2)



Megami284, Uploaded on May 17, 2009

The Tyra Banks Show - ''African American women's hair'' (Recorded May 12, 2009, WWOR)
We're getting to the root of the African-American "good hair" phenomenon. Find out how hair impacts the community's culture and even self-esteem.
-snip-
Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBoBR20n8S4 to watch Part 3 of this program.

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g13u0w2oP4 to watch Part 4 of this program.

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxQGXmEVw-4 to watch Part 5 of this program.

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Example #3: Natural Hair Styles for African American Women



TheMakeupvirgin, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2009

I hope you like It!

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Example #4: Happy To Be Nappy! Natural Hairstyles



JahGydes, Uploaded on Oct 24, 2008

celebration of black hair, sistahs don't be ashamed of your hair, be happy to be nappy! one love
-snip-
"I'm Happy To Be Nappy" was a slogan in the 1990s which appeared in an ad, although I don't remember which product it was promoting. That slogan was also found on Black t-shirts.
According to this article http://voices.yahoo.com/im-happy-nappy-embracing-other-n-word-548552.html "I'm happy to be nappy" celebrated the growing popularity of (dread) locks & other natural hair styles among some Black women & Black men.

The heyday of "I'm happy to be nappy" big afros was the 1970s. Check out how many Black people wore big afros (naturals) in this video of a 1970s Soul Train television program video: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/soul-train-line-formation-video.html

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Example #5: Afro Sheen Ad 5



randimay21, Uploaded on Sep 20, 2010
-snip-
I believe this commercial is from the mid 1970s.

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Example #6: Afro Sheen Ad 6



randimay21,Uploaded on Oct 22, 2010

"The hawk is out to get you!"

This is one of my favorite ads because of the Chicago reference :)

Chicago's wind is often called "The Hawk" or the "Windy City."
-snip-
I believe this commercial is from the mid 1970s.

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Example #7: India.Arie - I Am Not My Hair ft. Akon



Uploaded by IndiaArieVEVO on Jun 16, 2009

Music video by India.Arie performing I Am Not My Hair. (C) 2006 Motown Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
-snip-
Click http://www.lyricstop.com/i/iamnotmyhair-india.arie.html for this song's lyrics.

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RELATED LINKS
This serves as a companion post to Racial & Other Societal Implications Of Touching Black People's Hair http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/10/racial-societal-implications-of.html

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Also, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-textured_hair
"Afro-textured hair is a term used to refer to the natural texture of Black African hair that has not been altered by hot combs, flat irons, or chemicals (through perming, relaxing, or straightening)"...
-snip-

Editor's Note: I'm including this link for its information & photographs. However, I want to note that the term "Afro-textured hair" isn't a term that I've ever heard or read used for "Black people's hair" in the USA.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to all those associated with these featured videos.
My thanks also to the authors of the article that is featured in this post, and the uploaders of these featured videos.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

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Langston Hughes - "Note on Commercial Theatre" (You've Taken My Blues And Gone)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents a sound file of & words to Langston Hughes poem "Notes On Commercial Theatre". This post also includes an excerpt of a Wikipedia analysis of that poem, and my analysis of that poem which includes comments about the 2013 internet video craze "The Harlem Shake".

The content of this post is presented for historical, sociological, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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FEATURED SOUND FILE: LANGSTON HUGHES POETRY RECITAL c.1945 Part 4 of 4



cdbpdx,Uploaded on Jul 19, 2009

In 1945, ASCH records recorded a 78 rpm 4 record album set with Langston Hughes reciting his own poems. This is part 4 of 4 parts from that album, each part being both sides of one of the records in the album.

This record contains:

LITTLE SONGS
SILENCE
BURDEN
THE BREATH OF A ROSE
PRAYER
BORDER LINE
IN TIME OF SILVER RAIN
STILL HERE
BALLAD OF THE LANDLORD
BIG BUDDY
NOTE ON COMMERCIAL THEATER (good!)

This is an historic compilation. Enjoy!
-snip-
"Note On Commercial Theatre" is the last recitation on this sound file and begins at 5:06.

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WORDS TO NOTES ON COMMERCIAL THEATRE
(Langston Hughes)

You've taken my blues and gone--
You sing 'em on Broadway
And you sing 'em in Hollywood Bowl,
And you mixed 'em up with symphonies
And you fixed 'em
So they don't sound like me.
Yep, you done taken my blues and gone.

You also took my spirituals and gone.
You put me in MacBeth and Carmen Jones
And all kinds of Swing Mikados
And in everything but what's about me--
But someday somebody'll
Stand up and talk about me,
And write about me--
Black and beautiful--
And sing about me,
And put on plays about me!
I reckon it'll be
Me myself!

Yes, it'll be me.

From http://www.skidmore.edu/~mstokes/227/hughes-poems.html

ANALYSIS OF LANGSTON HUGHES' "NOTES ON COMMERCIAL THEATRE"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Note_on_Commercial_Theatre
"Langston Hughes was a prominent writer during the Harlem Renaissance, which is obvious in most of his poetry. Hughes writes about the issues of the day, and “Note on Commercial Theatre” is no different.

Roots vs. novelty

During the Harlem Renaissance, one of the main controversies was that African American culture became the “vogue” of the day. This included interest not only in black writing and art, but in the rising jazz and theatre scenes as well. Harlem became the hot spot for this new black culture; both black and whites explored and became immersed in it. Because it was so popular, many white people attempted to infuse their own art with the new African American styles, resulting in hybrid music and theatre (for example, a swing version of The Mikado, a comic opera).

Hughes was a huge proponent of creating a separate black identity and art, hence the extreme antipathy within “Note on Commercial Theatre” to black culture being absorbed by whites. This is reflected in his use of an experimental form for his poem; there is a lack of rhyme scheme and no discernible rhythm to the lines. Other black writers of the time, such as Countee Cullen, experimented within specific forms, but Hughes rejects form in this poem; he rejects the absorption into any other style but his own."...

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EDITORIAL COMMENT, INCLUDING COMMENTS ABOUT THE HARLEM SHAKE MEME
I wonder if Langston Hughes's poem "Notes On Commercial Theatre" wasn't just concerned about "white attempts to infuse their own art with the new African American styles" or concerned about "black culture being absorbed by white". I wonder if Langston Hughes was also reflecting on how mainstream White society often failed to acknowlege Black people while loving Black cultural products.

Furthermore, I wonder if the impetus for Langston Hughes' "Note On Commercial Theatre" was also driven by the common practice then of White people reaping the economic benefit of Black creative products through the production & promotion of often watered down versions of that product - for instance, White singers recording "covers" of Blues songs composed by Black people.

It seems to me that in this so-called post-racial America more than 60 years after Langston Hughes wrote "Note On Commercial Theatre", there's still considerable reason for Black people to be concerned that we aren't given the credit for our artistic accomplishments. Not only is "White" still the default race, but also terms such as "traditional American" and "vernacular American" are used to categorize a number of Black art forms, including old time music/songs, and Swing dances.

To a considerable degree, that history & these present day realities may explain why some Black commentators & some non-Black commentators have expressed concerns about the recent Harlem Shake internet craze. Each of those numerous videos that have been uploaded to YouTube show groups of people, sometimes in diverse "Halloween" type costumes, wildly dancing in various ways to a song called "The Harlem Shake" that was released last year by a producer known as Baauer. Although each of these videos are entitled "The Harlem Shake", the dances performed by the people in those videos are have no resemblance to the Harlem Shake of the 1980s, and its popularized version in 2001. I think that the point of those new Harlem Shake videos is to show groups of people in specific settings letting down their hair, and being crazy for a change. And I find some of those videos funny. But I can also understand why Tamara Palmer, a commentator for The Root.com wrote that "a silly viral video craze [has] completely overshadowed the origins of a beloved old-school dance". I can also agree with Tamara Palmer's position that in those videos the Harlem Shake "has been all but stripped of its cultural context and meaning." http://www.theroot.com/views/harlem-shakedown?wpisrc=root_more_news.

And yet, in his poem "Notes On Commercial Theatre", Langston Hughes indicated that it was Black people's responsibility to share our stories. As such, the Harlem Shake internet video craze provides opportunities to talk about the history of White exploitation of Black people's cultural products, even though that may not be what is going on in those videos. The Harlem Shake internet video craze also provides opportunities to share information about Black dances -including the old Harlem Shake, and the Ethiopian Eskista dance which is said to have inspired that African American dance, though I don't believe that is actually true. And the Harlem Shake internet videos provides an opportunity for me to share one of my favorite Langston Hughes poems, Notes On Commercial Theatre" which since I first read it, I've always referred to by its first line "You've taken my Blues and gone".

RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-origins-several-examples-of-harlem.html "The Harlem Shake (Origins, Old School Examples, & Internet Meme)"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Langston Hughes for his cultural legacy. My thanks also to the author of the articles that are quoted in this post, to the transcriber of this poem, and to the uploader of this featured sound file.


Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

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